United States v. Rivera’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 federal appellate · 2 district · 1 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 29 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““[T]he strictest scrutiny is appropriate when the basis for the mistrial is the unavailability of critical prosecution evidence, or when there is reason to believe that the prosecutor is using the superior resources of the State to harass or to achieve a tactical advantage over the accused. At the other extreme is the mistrial premised upon the trial judge’s belief that the jury is unable to reach a verdict, long considered the classic basis for a proper mistrial. The argument that a jury’s inability to agree establishes reasonable doubt as to the defendant’s guilt, and therefore requires acquittal, has been uniformly rejected in this country. Instead, without exception, the courts have held that the trial judge may discharge a genuinely deadlocked jury and require the defendant to submit to a second trial. This rule accords recognition to society’s interest in giving the prosecution one complete opportunity to convict those who have violated its laws. Moreover, in this situation there are especially compelling reasons for allowing the trial judge to exercise broad discretion in deciding whether or not ‘manifest necessity’ justifies a discharge of the jury. On the one hand, if he discharges the jury when further deliberations may produce a fair verdict, the defendant is deprived of his ‘valued right to have his trial completed by a particular tribunal.’ But if he fails to discharge a jury which is unable to reach a verdict after protracted and exhausting deliberations, there ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. United States v. Wecht

2. “The Double Jeopardy Clause forbids that “any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” U.S. Const, amend. V. Under that clause, a defendant has a “valued right to have his trial completed by a particular tribunal,” Wade v. Hunter, 336 U.S. 684, 689 , 69 S.Ct. 834 , 93 L.Ed. 974 (1949) .... Protections against double jeopardy are ancient and we interpret the Double Jeopardy Clause in light of “its origin and the line of its growth.” Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 199 , 78 S.Ct. 221 , 2 L.Ed.2d 199 (1957) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting) (quoting Gompers v. United States, 233 U.S. 604, 610 , 34 S.Ct. 693 , 58 L.Ed. 1115 (1914)). The Double Jeopardy Clause’s prohibition of multiple trials evolved in reaction to “a time when English judges served the Stuart monarchs by exercising a power to discharge a jury whenever it appeared that the Crown’s evidence would be insufficient to convict.” Washington [v. Washington], 434 U.S. [497], at 507, 98 S.Ct. 824 [, 54 L.Ed.2d 717 (1978) ]. Accordingly, a defendant may not be reprosecuted where a first trial has ended with an improperly declared mistrial. United States v. Perez, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat) 579, 6 L.Ed. 165 (1824).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. 745 F. Supp. 2d 536 - In Re Telfair

3. “must exercise prudence and care, giving due consideration to reasonably available alternatives to the drastic measure of a mistrial”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Seay v. Cannon